Chapter Text
Sometimes, Sasuke wondered what his life would have been like if he was not born as the second child. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he wasn't Uchiha Itachi's younger brother. A lot less miserable, he imagined.
With a quiet groan, he lifted himself from the rough floor, muscles aching profusely as he strained them. Ten hours of straight training was no joke at all. But that was the lengths you had to go through just to keep up with your disconcertingly, genius brother.
Sasuke patted his dirtied, black combat pants as if it would make them any cleaner and picked up Kusanagi, elegantly putting it back in his sheath with the poise of the skilled swordsman he was. He ran his calloused hands through his damp hair with a huff.
Itachi was to become head of clan.
In a few months, Itachi would be head of clan and Sasuke would have to obey his word. He was not stupid, of course this was bound to happen, he always knew this. But deep down, within the crevices of Sasuke's conscience, he thought he could change fate itself. Disobey destiny and defy the stars.
Naive he had been.
The second child was always meant to stay in their place. Second. The raven gritted his teeth.
"Dammit..." he muttered.
Ah, what the hell? He need to stop bitching already.
Subconsciously, he took a deep breath in and exhaled shakily. Probably to calm his angered nerves. He was mad at Itachi, the man who had stolen everything from him before they could even belong to him, his father, the man with such an insatiable greed, he could never be satisfied, and ultimately the world- it's unfairness, how prejudicial and oppressive it was. Culminated rage gnawed at everything cell in his body. It was so potent it was almost agonizing.
No. He was Samurai, he had faced worse pain than this. He clutched onto Kusanagi, his grip so strong she would have broke if she was not made from the finest of tamahagane.
He walked across the engawa to his room, leaving the training ground behind, a maidservant shied away, frightened by his unstable state. Upon reaching his room, Sasuke unclothed himself and unwrapped his hand bandages. His palms were bruised from the tight grip of his fingers, nails biting on the hard skin.
He entered the shower, he didn't turn on the heat, allowing the cold, frosty water to cascade down his battered skin. Skin that once used to be pale and perfect, was now covered in scars and bruises, trophies from all his endeavours and voyages.
The water not only seemed to cool his body, but also his temper, only temporarily. He had been an angry child since birth, his father called him ungrateful. Now all that was left of him was the forlorn question of 'what next?'.
What was he to live for now?
Stepping the shower, he dried himself with the soft, cotton towel and was pleased to see a servant had neatly placed a new set of clothing ready for him on his bed. Dinner would be served soon and tardiness was not tolerated within the Uchiha clan no matter the occasion.
He was fully dressed by the time he was called to meet his family. He walked with little hurry in his fresh, new yukata. It was the typical Uchiha dark blue with black thin stripes, and of course the uchiwa was embroidered right on his left chest and on the back of the cloth, as always.
The Uchiha was a prideful clan, the most powerful and second richest noble family. They were all about honour and triumph, as stereotypical as a traditional clan could be. They showed no fear in representing themselves.
Finaly arriving, he slid the door open, revealing a conference of dark, onyx eyes all around the long hall. His father sitting at head of the table.
"Sasuke, sit. You're late." His voice stern and cold like always even during old age.
The young raven darted his eyes to the clock. It still said 18:00. He complied either way.
He kneeled in front of the zataku in the empty space next to Shisui where he always sat, facing Itachi. His brother remained calm and refined, he had always been like that, the rational and mature child.
As a child, Sasuke would read stories of the the great Madara Uchiha, who's fiery personality lead to his victories in war. He believed he would become like him at one point.
Fugaku began prayers, thanking Indra, the God of fire and lightning, for blessing us with their kekkei genkai. Kekkei genkai's were hidden techniques own by families, no clan had ever specifically voiced what power they owned as that would only be sabotage; however rumours spread. He had recently heard that the Nara's could control shadows. It was fitting, taking into count all the dirty work thet did for the Hokage behind the scenes. A smart clan they were, but sly.
"Now let's eat." He proclaimed.
The feast was large, an abundance of different dishes and foods. It was necessary for a family of warriors, any less would be insulting.
"Sasuke." His father began, "You are coming to the age where you should be thinking of marriage."
Oh, of course, his father's next mission was to marry him off.
"Hn."
"If you have any women in mind, bring her to me, or else, I will find a sufficient bride." He said almost like a warning. "The Senju’s are hosting an afternoon party this weekend, I suggest you mingle around then."
Sasuke held his fists in a tight ball.
Marriage? He was a samurai, he had no time for women and futile parties, let alone marriage. His father thought of him as a fool. Sasuke had a baseline respect for his father as his son, but he had limits.
He looked up from his dish to see his brother staring him down, face unreadable as always. What the hell was he looking at?
The conversation ended there, short and minimal, they were both men of few words after all, most of the clan members were.
"Oohh! You hear that 'Tachi!" Shisui beamed ringing an arm around Sasuke neck rowdily. "Our Sasuke's getting married!" He laughed. Itachi, on the other hand, remained silent.
Shisui was clearly not one of them.
The younger Uchiha scowled before pushing him off forcefully.
"Hey, if you want any ladies, I know a few who wouldn't mind volunteering." The brunette whispered cheekily.
He took a deep breath in, and then one out.
Ignoring Shisui was easy, controlling that creeping rage was proving to be difficult.
Inhale and exhale.
Like his mother used to tell him.
In and out.
Like controlled breathing during a battle.
Seemingly, Shisui gave up.
"You guys are no fun..." he whined. "Man, I wish Obi was here..."
Speaking of Obito, his absence was loud. After his father announced his 'leave' a month prior, nobody had heard from Obito again. Sasuke didn't dwell on it too much, he was too engrossed in his own training to be worried about his overly secretive Uncle. His whole family were reticent individuals, however, Obito was a strange one. He didn't keep to himself, but there always seemed to be mystery swaying around him.
When dinner was over, Sasuke was the first to exit that old, cramped up room. All it's vastness and glory as a hall was irrelevant, when the people who occupied it couldn't appreciate it. Sasuke didn't find the appeal in incredibly embellished rooms and buildings, only built for the sole purpose of showing off, their gold and silver gleaming against the sun, as if to say, 'look at me.' They were irrelevant.
Slowly, the moon began to take over the Sun's reign of the sky, painting the Earth in a pink and orange ombre, colours mingling harmoniously. He walked around the garden, his sword retrieved on his hip -a samurai should never be caught off guard. The raven allowed the breeze to take control of his onyx locks, manoeuvring his bangs from side to side.
The Uchiha had contemplated leaving the main house to the soldier's cabin so he could spar with some of his men. He was still angry; the anger never went away- ever. Even looking at the gorgeous flowers, his mother once tended to, it was still there. Their gardener now did all the work, Sasuke could swear the petals had dimmed ever since.
This weekend, his father had mentioned. What did the man expect from him? To find some noble woman, who only thought about romance and the latest trends, to marry? The raven wasn't opposed to children, in fact, he wanted children of his own. But he was still a young man, starting a family was the least of his worries.
"Sasuke."
He halted at his name. The younger Uchiha was not surprised, he had sensed a presence moments ago.
"Izumi"
The brunette woman's hair danced in the soft breeze.
"Can I walk with you?" She asked politely, gently smiling.
"Hn" Sasuke grunted in approval, at the sound, Izumi inched closer till there was a moderate distance between the two. Modesty was an important part of an Uchiha woman, after all, their beauty and innocence was what their value was based on, Izumi was no exception. She was a woman many girls in the clan looked up to, many believed she would be betrothed to Itachi- the perfect couple.
Izumi and Sasuke were not close, unlike her and Itachi, it's not like he had much time to fool around with women. She was not unpleasant per say, but they had little to converse about, they remained respectful during their interactions.
They walked in relative silence, along the pathway surrounded by beds of flowers. Tall, delphiniums hovered over them like a cage, yet it didn't feel suffocating. An amalgamation of sapphires, violets and fuchsias, some pale, some vibrant. Truly beautiful.
Delphiniums, representing openness and new beginnings, quite ironic really, the Uchiha's were stubborn, hard-headed people. Traditionalism was valued over everything else.
"I don't think I’ll ever get used to how stunning this garden is." The woman whispered, almost in awe.
"Yeah." the raven agreed.
He wondered why the lady had pulled him into accompanying her. The raven would leave, however, it was rude to leave a woman behind, out by herself. He was at least that considerate.
"I heard you're looking for a bride."
"Hn."
Damn, rumours really spread fast.
She giggled. "Wow, it feels like just yesterday, you were a kid glued to Itachi's side. Now you're getting married."
"Well, I wouldn't go that far yet. I haven't even found a woman to court, let alone marry."
The brunette giggled graciously again.
"You're right. I guess I’m getting ahead of myself."
They reached the end of the pathway which lead to the east side of the manor which was also the ladies quarters. Stepping any closer would be inappropriate, so the raven paused.
"I'll go from here." She said stopping. "You should ask me for help if you need any tips for the party. You brothers have the looks, but you are quite socially... challenged."
The raven chuckled. He couldn't really deny that, he had never been a fan of socialising.
They parted ways, Sasuke heading back to his room to prepare for sleep. Sleep was an overstatement, most nights the Raven didn't sleep, he pondered for hours upon hours waiting for sleep to catch him. When it didn't he would read, sat up against he bed, lamp lit up on his bedside table. Sometimes, he would even leave to the training grounds to exercise his body more.
☆ ~••••~☆
The next morning, by 5am, Sasuke was already awake. He went through his usual morning routine to prepare for the day, precise as always. He was to go to headquarters today to attend a meeting with the leader of the Sound regiment, Kabuto. He did not like that man, there was something about him, sly and evil, however, the elders had made their decision to align forces with the Sound. And despite all their pride and physical prowess, Uchiha's were still dogs to the monarchy- slaves to the country.
Upon arriving, he headed to his office to retrieve a few documents and revise some notes. The Kono-Oto alliance was relatively new, as all alliances, it was made out of convenience. Otogakure being a new, small country, needed protection, money and weapons to provide a safe stable environment for their people.
Like the greedy hags they were, Konoha, took this not only as an opportunity to gain good publicity- kind, generous Konoha helping out a smaller, poorer country in need- and to get an advantage over the Mist. Of course, that was kept under the radar, ever since joining forces, the government had been building secret military bases in Oto. Oto was geographically under Kiri, the perfect place, if they ever needed to attack, it was a sly move however- not that Konoha ever cared about sincerity.
They called Kiri the bloody mist, but Konoha wasn't any cleaner.
He had learned that over time.
Sasuke was sure there was more to their agreement, but he wasn't authorised for that information. Even so, he had been keeping an eye on the slim, silver haired man.
Ever since the Oto soldiers had been transferred to Konoha's central military bases, they had been unruly- 'untrained dogs', Shisui had called them. It had gotten so bad that brawls had erupted multiples times between the soldiers’. It was easy to deem it as a cultural shock, but when Sasuke saw them for the first time, it was like animals, wild and savage, there was something wrong with these people.
If Kabuto couldn't agree to control his men, then there would be a serious problem.
There was a knock on his door followed by to more strong ones.
"Come in."
The door opened, revealing a tall, broad figure.
"Yo!" The man waved.
"Kakashi, what is it?"
Kakashi was one of the generals, even though, he was barely there most of the time. Despite his laidback, lazy attitude, he was a well-respected soldier, even praised by the Uchiha's. Kakashi was also a strange man to him, him and Obito followed the same personality traits, open yet closed at the same time.
"I supposed you haven't heard then, what happened last night?" He questioned, leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"No, I just came in. What happened."
"Karin, the one from the Uzumaki estate, attacked one of Oto's soldiers."
"Yeah, I know her."
Kakashi said the Uzumaki estate, not clan. It was called that now because the once formidable clan was dead. The estate was now filled with people believed to be distant relatives of the Uzumaki and servants, trying to savour whatever they had left of the bloodline. Quite pathetic if you asked him. That was what happened if you didn't protect your honour as a clan. The Uzumaki's should be a lesson for everyone, he believed.
The clan wasn't fully extinct yet, with members like Karin that still had full Uzumaki blood, but she was the only one he was aware of. Besides her, it was pretty much gone. The Uzumaki estate also held the nine tails jinchuriki, who was meant to be an Uzumaki with primary clan blood, though he had never seen them before, Sasuke wondered if it was even true - it wouldn't be the first time Konoha had bluffed.
"Why."
"Unknown, we're still investigating at the station, she's been detained, but you know those Uzumaki's are a little crazy."
"Not really."
He didn't know much about them. He didn't care. How would they make him any stronger? How would they help him reach his goals? However, someone attacking an Oto soldier, presumably an aggravated attack, wasn't hard to believe. The fact that it was Karin, a captain, was more surprising.
"Hm, fair enough, they aren't very relevant anymore are they?" He said almost regrettably, Sasuke swore he saw a hint of grief in his eyes.
"Of course not." The raven replied before checking the clock. "We should start heading out."
Kakashi pushed himself up from the frame with a performative huff. "You're right." He smiled, pulling up his mask, ensuring it was still on properly.
They walked side by side towards the conference room, lower ranks bowing and saluting at the sight of them. When they arrived, Kabuto and his peers were already sat down.
"Hatake- San, Uchiha-San, it is a pleasure."
"Mahh, it's a shame we have to meet under these circumstances."
"It really is. Don’t you agree Uchiha-San?" Kabuto to turned to Sasuke, smiling. A feigned and forced smile to elaborate.
"Sure. Now can we begin?" He dismissed.
"Ah yes. It seems my men have been causing a bit of trouble."
"Not a bit. They have been instigating multiple brawls between soldiers, not only ruining relations but damaging property, which, might i add, we have to pay for." Sasuke began going off on him.
"To be specific: 8 tables broken, around 10 walls wrecked with holes, scratches and blood stains on them, 6 doors teared apart, and 3 windows broken." Kakashi added.
"Now, I understand your concerns, but you can't possibly blame all that damage on my men, a battle goes both ways, Konoha soldiers also must have caused some damage as well, and we all know valiant strength of your soldiers." The man smiled at the last comment, however, no number of smiles or baseless compliments could weave him out of this one.
"It seems you are failing to understand our point. Your men are intentionally provoking and antagonizing ours, for whatever reason."
The raven continued to press the other.
"And how are you so sure it's only Oto soldiers?" One of Kabuto's subordinates questioned, Guren, her name was- an impressive fighter he remembered.
"We have multiple accounts from soldiers, Ma'am." Kakashi replied.
"How do you know your men aren't lying. They never liked us in the first place. They want us gone." She rose forward on her chair before narrowing her eyes intimidatingly. "Don't you think this is a little too convenient."
"Are you insinuating this is a set up?" Sasuke glares at her, eyes snaking as well.
"I'm just saying." She huffed.
"Maybe you should consider 'saying' things when you have legitimate proof." He retorted.
"I must agree with Uchiha-San. Throwing around baseless accusations could be very dangerous Ma'am." Kakashi said in his normal colloquial tone, however, by the way he sharpened his eyes pinning on the woman, contradicted his tone. It was a threat.
"My apologies. I'm sure Guren-San wasn't trying to accuse any of you." Kabuto attempted to placate the room.
Is that not what she literally did?
"I, myself have heard the accounts, it would be quite unreasonable of me to dismiss them." He continued.
"Hn."
"Well then, Kabuto-San, I won't waste anymore of your time and get straight to the point." The Uchiha stood from his chair. "If you don't set up necessary boundaries for your soldiers, this won't be a problem between military anymore." He warned, his voice low and sharp. "We are not here to babysit unkempt animals, sort them out or you won't be here for very long."
His ultimatum was a semi-bluff, even with all the control he had over the military, if the elders and the Hokage wanted to keep Kabuto's men, they would. In the end, the wellbeing of their soldiers meant nothing to them, they were ants, small and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things- replaceable even.
"Of course, Uchiha-San, thank you for your leniency."
"We expect reformed set of ground rules to be enforced onto your men by next week."
Kakashi ordered before both men stepped out the room.
Sasuke sighed exasperatedly, Kakashi, like an angel from heaven, lifted up a pack of cigarettes towards him.
They walked to the back of the building, where nobody went and lighted their cigarettes. Smoke swirled up in the air, dark and brooding, yet it still obeyed the winds command, swaying at each blow.
"That woman has got a mouth on her."
"I'm quite surprised honestly, Sasuke." They dropped the formalities when they were alone, he didn't know when it had started, it just happened. "You were quite lenient on them, in my opinion."
"Do we have a choice?" The Uchiha taking in another puff. " This isn't a Konoha problem, it's international. Push too hard, and you end up fucking everything up, then everything's your fault and you're left to fixed up everything problem they have. It's bullshit"
"Hm" the silver haired man huffed, nodding his head. "This system is quite cruel."
"Tell me about it." He chuckled bitterly.
Shortly after, Kakashi headed back into the headquarters to continue work, Sasuke followed minutes later to finish up some paper work in his office.
The rest of the day stayed mundane and repetitive, he worked until evening, pen dragging elegantly across the paper for hours. He would definitely need a night work-out after all this sitting. The raven got up from his seat and stretched his body. He hadn't eaten either, which was beginning to put stress of his tired body.
"Sasukeee." Suigetsu bursted into the room, not bothering with the polite courtesy of knocking."
"Would it kill to knock?" He said rolling his eyes.
"Yes, actually. Would it kill to show a little bit more enthusiasm? I literally got you food." He waved around the bag of food probably from the shitty cafeteria.
Suigetsu was one of the captains, he was loud and talkative. He began sticking closer to Sasuke when he realised he was part of the few people who was near the same age as him and wasn't low ranked.
"You know I don't eat that shit." He deadpanned.
"Yeah, but you're gonna have it anyway cause you're hungry."
The raven huffed but humoured that shark teethed man anyway, even though he could have just ordered an assistant to bring him any freshly made food he wanted.
"Let's go out then." He said before leading the way. They settled for the roof of the building where nobody could go.
"Ahhh, man, those idiot's have been driving me crazy, and just to top it all off, Karin decided to get herself arrested." The white-haired man ran his lanky fingers through his hair, sighing aggressively.
"She'll probably be out by next week, the thing is why she did it? She may be hot- headed but she's not stupid." Sasuke stated, it wasn't reassurance, simply just fact.
"I went to visit her earlier today at the station, she was inconsolable, she wouldn't say a word to me." He frowned. "Whatever that guy did, it must have been crazy to get her like that." He continued, looking straight forward towards the dimming sky.
"Hn. Give her some time, she already knows she fucked up." It was bad enough that the Oto soldiers were getting under his men's skin. A captain losing their composure over a simple soldier, painted their military in a bad light. They looked weak- childish even. She would have to make up for it.
"Does she? You didn't see her Sasuke, she was seething..."
The red head had always had a furious temper, but the way Suigetsu was describing her was different, more hostile.
"Ugh, enough of that." He said abruptly before smiling mischievously. Sasuke raised a brow inquisitively. "I heard someone's looking for a fiancé."
Was this the new talk of the town? Sasuke had no idea why this topic interested people so much. Throughout his life, the idea of romance had never piqued his interest, he was too goal-orientated for frivolous matters such as that. He took care of his physical needs, when necessary, all those relations were detached though.
"Hn."
"Don't ‘hn’ me." He scolded. "Any women caught your eye?"
"No."
"Not even one?" He asked looking at the other incredulously, like he had just said the most absurd nonsense ever.
"No." Sasuke replied once more, harsher this time.
"Oh, come on, not even Miss Haruno."
"..."
"There we go! That's progress!" He beamed.
"I'm not interested in Haruno like that." Sasuke huffed indignantly.
Sakura was a difficult one. She had had romantic feelings for him since they were young and had confesses multiple times to be reject. At this point, Sasuke didn't know whether she was just being hard-headed on purpose or she genuinely though she could change his mind. He would say he admired the perseverance, but Sakura's insistence was borderline preposterous now.
He did not actually dislike the woman, she was smart but continued to dumb herself down for an inexplicable reason. In fact, she was one of the few women who trained in medical science and became the apprentice of Dr Senju Tsunade. Sakura was really an enigma to him.
"Yeah, that's not going to work, buddy. I'm pretty sure she's going to be at the party tomorrow." Great. "How are you going woo her?" He laughed but was genuinely curious.
"..."
"...I hope you didn't think you could go their empty handed..." He looked almost disappointed, and the grimace only deepened when he didn't receive a reply. "Wow, you're hopeless..."
"Worry about your own life. Your woman's been incarcerated and your more concerned about me." He began to stand up and straighten his uniform.
"What?! I am concerned!- W-wait! Karin's not my woman!!" He spluttered frantically, but the raven had already started tuning him out as he walked back into the building hands in pocket.
☆ ~••••~☆
The Uchiha manor was always surrounded by a cold aura. It was silent but Sasuke could see the warm lights peeking out through the shoji doors. The Sun was long gone by now, the sky washed in a deep blue. The Uchiha took a deep breath in, pulling the string back aiming straight for the centre of the target.
He let go.
He had stopped looking at his performance after the fourth bullseye, he didn't need to. Perhaps, he should have just practiced his taijutsu or kenjustu again. Wiping of a bead of sweat on his temple, he went picked up Kusanagi, unsheathing her and then fixed his stance.
The garden party was tomorrow, tomorrow he would find his wife. After some contemplation, he had realised there was no point in stalling it, his father would just end up finding a bride for him instead. He was a busy man; the raven would rather keep his search as short as possible.
It was not as if the concept of having his own offspring was repulsive to him- he wanted to continue his bloodline- it was rather the time and effort put into the relationships. He had no time for that, nor was he willing to find time for it. His wife would have to accept being in a loveless marriage. It would be transactional, not only would she have her own children but the Uchiha name placed on her. A life of wealth, luxury and full protection, Sasuke would say that was tempting agreement to make up for his lack of intimacy.
Mid-swing, he was stopped by the presence of a servant. They had been there for a while, assumingly, just watching the raven.
"What is it?" He demanded, not turning to look at them.
"Oh, um right! Excuse me for the disruption, Uchiha-San. Your father wishes your presence, immediately."
What now? He internally groaned.
"Okay." At that, the servant bowed and took off.
Sasuke was pretty much done for the day anyway, so he conceded.
At the entrance, Itachi was already there, leaned on the wall, eyes closed. Upon hearing his younger brother, he opened them.
"Otouto." He nodded, Sasuke returned the gesture. "Itachi."
Sasuke held back the snarl his body was urging him to do. Itachi's unfazed face pissed him off endlessly. He was so calm in contrast to Sasuke's mental turmoil - despite being the vandal of his ambitions. The younger raven sucked his teeth before taking a deep breath in then out. He couldn't let bitterness and rage consume him, that was for the weak.
Fugaku was already sat down in his office when they entered. Brows practically knit together as always, deepening his wrinkles, and his mouth sunken into a frown. Sasuke couldn't think of the last time he had saw the man smile.
"Father, you requested us?" Itachi
announced.
"Good." He said upon their arrival. "Sit boys." He commanded as if they were domesticated animals- he guessed it was quite fitting for the Uchiha's though.
"We have received a formal request from Lord Shimura to meet."
Both brothers furrowed their brows.
Shimura Danzo, the vice Hokage, just second to Lord Sarutobi. Danzo was liked more by the nobles and conservatives than the Hokage himself, some even deemed him on par with Sarutobi, some even argued he was more important. If Danzo was personally involved in something that meant so was the Hokage.
This must be serious, the hokage never personally involved himself in matters.
"When?" Sasuke asked.
"Tomorrow. In the evening. You will leave the Senju's party early is needed."
That would have been delightful news if, Danzo wasn't the reason behind it.
It wasn't a secret that the Vice Hokage had a strong dislike for the Uchiha's like many nobles and commoners. However, no one had the courage or strength to act upon that hatred that had stemmed from over a century ago. Pathetic really, but could he blame them? The Uchiha's were dominated military strength with half of the police force filled with them and 15% of the military being Uchiha's. Their clan thrived off violence, power and control, that was their honour as Samurai. Uchiha Madara was a revered samurai in Uchiha history, however, not so much in Konoha's despite their first Hogake holding him in such high regards.
However, that tale was for another time.
"I expect you two to be punctual, I’m sure you're aware of the significance of this." He warned, though only looking at Sasuke. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yes, father." They both said in unison.
"Hn." That signified their permission to leave.
What could Danzo possibly want with them. As far as he was aware, the old man tried to avoid the Uchiha district as much as he could. He doubted whatever he had say was going to be good.
Back in his room, Sasuke's attire for the next day was already laid out for him, as requested. It was a dark, aristocratic suit, a complete contrast to the traditional hakamas and yukatas he wore in the district or the practical uniforms or training gear he wore at work. He didn't like it at all. It looked restricting, not fitting for a samurai- a samurai should always be prepared. He wouldn't be able to tale Kusanagi with him either.
Whatever, if he was lucky, he would be able to sneak out of it after an hour or so. Afterall, discretion was also a part of being samurai. Sasuke rubbed his temples, dreading the imminent headache forming. There was way too much going on, from the clan bullshit to whatever the hell happened with Karin and now the Vice Hokage himself had to include himself in Sasuke's never-ending problems.
"Lovely." He muttered to himself.